Short-term tryout brings long-term tenant to Chelsea Market

From left: interior of Arts & Fleas space and exterior of Chelsea Market

The owner of Chelsea Market has recently found success in allowing tenants to try out properties before signing on long-term.

Jamestown, which owns the former loading dock on the corner of West 15th Street and 10th Avenue that tenant Artists & Fleas will occupy, allowed the marketplace for artists, designers and high-end vintage retailers to set up shop for short periods of time last year. Now, the Georgia-based real estate company has inked a five-year lease with Artists & Fleas’ founding couple, Ronen Glimer and Amy Abrams, for 4,068 square feet, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Williamsburg-born outfit’s first Manhattan location opened in December 2011 at 75 Ninth Avenue for two weeks, then signed on for two three-month terms in 2012 and then from June 2013 to January of this year, according to the paper. Glimer described the last stay to the Journal as a “residency.”

“You do want to test and see if they can be successful long-term, whether they bring something unique to it,” Michael Philips, Jamestown’s chief executive, said to the Journal. “If you’re figuring out a concept it’s hard to commit to a five-year lease.”

The eight-story, mixed-use building offers more than 100,000 square feet of retail space, according to PropertyShark. Current tenants include Google, which recently added more than 17,000 square feet to its lease for about $65 per square foot, as previously reported. [WSJ] — Angela Hunt